Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't doubt its real. I question the fact that we've ended up in this situation: spying devices laughing at their users. And we got here by way of technological apathy towards the ethics issues. And .. We are still here. Everyone thinks its okay, because "entrepreneurial triumph", and so on.. We need to step back from this abyss and take a good hard look at what we're making.
I don't understand why many people keep acting like these devices are some sort of sinister spying device that's far worse than anything imagined. Yet we all carry a far more capable mobile spying device (with audio recording, video+photo capture, and even GPS tracking all built-in) in our pockets and keep it within arms reach at all times. At least with an Echo you can look at the traffic volume it sends through you…
Some of us have more sense than to do that.